Tamaki's Advice
by Carbucketty
Summary: Pre-Haruhi, introverted twins ignore Tamaki's well-meaning advice. Friends can wait, they decide. You can see their relationship however you want to; it's up to you.


**yo. **Here is my obligatory Kaoru, Hikaru fanfiction. I leave the twincest issue up to you all; see it how you want. Once again, dedicated to **SylverEyes**, because ILher for inspiring me and encouraging me to write these one-shots. So yes, this is post-Tamaki, pre-Haruhi and involves some still rather introverted twins. So, without further ado:

_Tamaki's Advice (And How The Twins Didn't Follow It)_

* * *

The girls swooned as Kaoru delicately made stroke after stroke on his canvas. Hikaru did the same and they swooned again.

"But why do you two even have to make separate portraits?" one girl asked, looking back and forth between the two paintings. "Doesn't that just seem like a waste of time, two boys painting two identical pictures?"

_It's important, Tamaki said, to acknowledge the fact that you're two separate people. _

"Because we're not the same person." Hikaru replied briskly, hunching over his painting. "And it's a _self _portrait. I'm painting _Hikaru _and he's painting _Kaoru_." His tone wasn't very convincing, but it was still very harsh. Kaoru half-expected the the girls to be offended, but they only swooned more:

"Oh, he sounds so troubled!"

"How tragic! Kaoru, will you comfort your brother?"

Kaoru tilted his head slightly to the left. "Of course," he said, tearing his current painting off of his easel and starting again.

_Inside jokes, Tamaki warned, make others feel left out._

Hikaru glanced over at Kaoru's new painting after putting the finishes touching on his own. "Kaoru, you jokester," he muttered, giving his brother a nudge and a smile.

The girls didn't understand, the professor didn't notice, and Kaoru still made a perfect score.

* * *

"Your hair is out of place." Hikaru noticed.

Several girls scrambled to get mirrors, turning it into some kind of unspoken competition: whoever could get a mirror for _oh, which one is he again_? would be the victor.

"Is it?" Kaoru asked lazily, ignoring the efforts of the girls around him.

"Yes. You must have had a bad night's sleep last night. You look a bit unkempt today."

Kaoru reached to adjust his hair, but Hikaru beat him to it.

_Maybe, Tamaki suggested, you two should stop depending on each other so much. You know, for little things. _

All the girls stopped their mirror-hunting and squealed hopelessly; they all agreed on the idea that such brotherly affection could have possibly been the most adorable things they had ever seen.

_That being said, Tamaki added, don't forget to utilize your brotherly love whenever possible. _

"There you go," Hikaru said, letting his finger brush Kaoru's cheek, even though he would have done that without Tamaki's advice.

It was indisputable, the girls decided: That was, without a doubt, the most adorable thing they'd ever seen.

_

* * *

_

_Is it really healthy, Tamaki wondered, that you two sleep in the same bed?_

Hikaru was sleeping a bit restlessly and Kaoru was very careful not to move, since that would only be a disturbance. Kaoru hadn't slept all night, despite how tired he was. He reached to his cellphone to check the time: 5:58 AM.

Hikaru had two more minutes of rest.

Kaoru closed his eyes, just to pass the time.

The alarm made both boys jump.

"Shut it off," Hikaru groaned.

Kaoru obliged, but gently said, "It's time to get up."

Hikaru ignored that statement: "You seem tense. I don't like waking up next to your when you're like that. I like waking and being tangled up with you. It means you slept. It means we both slept."

Kaoru apologized.

_Above all, Tamaki declared, you two really need to socialize and make friends!_

"Let's not go to school. Let's play sick." Hikaru suggested, pulling the blanket over his head.

Kaoru followed suit. "What about making friends?" he asked.

"It can wait. If I go to sleep, will you sleep, too?"

Kaoru could see that Hikaru was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Yeah, I'll sleep, too," he whispered, placing his hand over Hikaru's eyes. "You go first, though."

"Mmhmm… and I swear we'll make friends… tomorrow…" Hikaru promised as he drifted back into a slumber more peaceful than his last.

Kaoru smiled; friends could wait.


End file.
